I'm Sorry
by red-headed psychopaths wanted
Summary: Kakashi has started to realize that without intervention the conflicts between Naruto and Sasuke are increasingly getting worse. He comes up with an idea to stop this and gets Sasuke to write a letter of apology to the blond. SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

Me- Hey:D It's been faaaaar too long. Ano I'm not much in the mood for this right now sooo I'm going to let Gaara take over for me. Gaa-kun?

Gaa-kun- What?!?! Eye twitch

Me- Well…I know you're not in this story but…

Gaa-kun- I get it, I get it. Turns towards the readers The author is too lazy too do anything right now and supposedly wants me to fill up this authors note thingy with whatever so…I'll fill it with some angsty goodness:

Unless you are the true creator of Naruto then you do not own it in anyway. That includes the author of this pathetic attempt of SasuNaru. sigh I would turn back now if I were you. This is the product of extreme boredom times five. Caution!!!!

Me- bonks Gaa-kun on the head and pushes him out of the way Hehe…Gaa-kun why don't you just run along now and go play with your teddy or something. pushes him out of magically appearing door Bye bye now. turns towards readers again Hehe pay no attention to the incredibly cute guy with red hair and no eyebrows. Read on!!!

Here it is:

Sasuke ran a pale hand through his dark bangs and sighed. For an hour now he had been trying to finish this letter. Apparently his stupid science teacher Kakashi had felt a sudden urge to torture his top student for being "a stuck up prick" towards a certain blond.

Of course Sasuke knew that this wasn't all so sudden for lately fights between Naruto and himself were becoming slightly more fierce and far more frequent. As an 'apology of action' Kakashi told his student that a letter asking for Naruto's forgiveness would be due to the blond the next morning.

Now Sasuke stared at the blank piece of parchment before him. He had learned years ago that if he would just start writing his words would stat to just come to him. He was brilliant, after all, and certainly knew how to write even if he had 'a stick up his ass' all the time. That was the problem though. Sasuke couldn't find a beginning. He couldn't even decide on what the intro would say. He thought that a 'Dear Naruto' would be far too formal for them and Kakashi probably wouldn't accept it without some sort of greeting. Sasuke sighed again and started to write.

When he was finished he folded the paper neatly and put it on the same pile as the rest of his finished homework. Within minutes he was asleep.

The next morning Sasuke's wakeup ritual was the same as always. He, of course, got to his touchy feely high school just in time to make him appear that he was too-cool-for-school. He had mastered the timing object of this illusion perfectly. He was always there at exactly five seconds before the bell.

Before sitting down at his desk Sasuke slipped the letter into the hands of a certain blond who was surprisingly on time this morning.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with distrust for a moment before opening it.

Naruto,

Kakashi has apparently noticed the increase of our fights and decided that it would be nice to force me into _apologizing_ to you. I know him enough at this point that he wouldn't let me send you a simple "I'm sorry, dobe" so I am going to have to put a little more effort into this than I would like. I might as well make amends for everything that has happened between us so I'll start from the beginning.

When I first met you I already new what you were. A loud, obnoxious dobe on the outside and a sad, lost little boy on the inside.

I was the same back then. On the inside, I mean. I just chose to hide it differently.

I know I've told you many times before that you were a failure. I know I've also called you many names that you don't deserve. You probably hate me because of it but I never said that you were the only one. Did I? No, I meant that we were both failures and idiots and…well everything, in our own ways.

I mean what good is it to be the top of your class if your only sibling is so much better? What good is it to steal the hearts of all of the girls when your brother outshines you even there? No one cares if one is great if there is another far superior. I know that. I have always known that.

So I'm sorry that you hate me and I'm sorry that I made you hate me. I just don't know any other way to show how similar we are verses the common belief that we are opposites. Accept my apology dobe, because there will be no way a 'teme' like me would ever ask you again.

Uchiha pride you know?

But I just need you to understand. I don't' hate you. Not at all. So please accept it when I say, I'm sorry Naruto.

-That damned Uchiha

Me- So, so what do you think? bouncing up and down excitedly

Gaa-kun- Told you it sucked.

Me- Do you really want me to duck tape your mouth shut? 'Cause I will. You know I will. evil laugh

Gaa-kun- just end the torture already and let these poor people go.

Me- Alright, alright. But they must review first!!! pout Please???? I need to know if anyone wants me to continue with this or leave it as a one-shot like I was originally planning. (Planning happening about 1 second before I started. Hehehe.)

Review:D

XD 


	2. Chapter 2

Me: Thank you to all who has reviewed and to all my readers who haven't!!!!!!!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to continue this fic 'cause so many people want me to. And 'cause I'm board…but mostly because of the first one. :D

Special thanks to:

Makacatori,

Anonymousey (love the name),

Shadow'of the'night 13,

and QueenofKH13 for reviewing and yinyangdemonrose just for bring cool. :D

Disclaimer: Don't own…obviously… 

Ok…Gaa-kun take over.

Gaa-kun: Alright than. Um…I guess I'll say the warning…the following contains small amounts of…

Me: No no. That's not how you do it. It's done like this:

WARNING!!!!!!!!: STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST YAOI AT AL…of course this chapter doesn't actually have a whole lot of boy/boy action…at all…

Oh well.

Gaa-kun: Whatever, let's just start.

Naruto un-crumpled the letter once more before quickly scanning it and stuffing it back into his coat pocket. The last period had just ended and the halls that had been empty only seconds before were filled with loud, rambunctious high school kids happy to be finally going home. Normally Naruto would be joining them in the homeward bound mob but today was different.

Ever since his first class the blond boy had found his mind constantly wandering. That is not something that was uncommon for Naruto but the object of his thoughts was different from usual. All day all Naruto could think about was Sasuke and his note. He had been pulling his hair out since science trying to figure out the note's meaning. Sasuke didn't hate him? How? Why?

'This is just too confusing,' Naruto thought, inwardly sighing.

Naruto shoved all the books he need into his backpack before heading towards the curb on autopilot. He needed to talk to someone about this but he had no real friends that were close enough. His guardian, Iruka, would be more than happy to help Naruto but the boy knew he could not talk to his father figure about this.

'That's it. I know what I'm going to do.' Naruto set off it a purposeful walk toward the tan jaguar that he knew belonged to his science teacher, Kakashi. He always rode home with Kakashi because his guardian and history teacher always stayed later to work. Kakashi didn't stay after because, he claimed, he "did all the work at home."

'Yeah right. How does Kakashi stay employed? More importantly, how can Iruka still be dating him? '

Naruto put his backpack in the trunk before climbing in beside the silver haired man. On the ride home they said nothing. There was nothing that needed to be said. As they pulled up in the driveway of Naruto's small but cozy home, Naruto hopped out of the still moving car (A/N Don't worry, Kakashi had already slowed down to very close to a halt.) and with a final wave pulled his back pack out and headed towards the front door. He took out a small silver key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Naruto smiled as he saw the familiar splotches or orange on the door. It was left over from when Naruto had tried to paint the entranceway his favorite color one night when he was alone in the house. When Iruka saw it he was furious and made him clean it all off. Now all that was left of it was the places were the paint just refused to come up.

Naruto pushed open the door and walked into his house. Leaving his stuff on the couch the blond trudged up the stairs and went into his bedroom. To anyone else the abusive amount of orange in such a small space would be almost sickening but to Naruto it was perfect. He sat down on his bed (A/N Orange, by the way.), pulled a pen and an already crumpled piece of paper out of a nearby drawer, and got to work.

The next day Naruto stuck a small piece of crumpled parchment into Sasuke's locker before heading to his first class.

Sasuke opened his locker to find a small note stuck between his history book and English binder. His first reaction to it was to ignore it as a stupid love note from one of his pathetic stalkers but as it was not pink and scented like usual he picked it up and unfolded it. He read it over once, twice, three times. Contrary to what he had originally thought it wasn't from some hideously bubbly fan girl. It was a note from none other than the dobe himself.

Teme,

I never knew you were one to be that soft. :P

Uchiha, I can't get myself to stop thinking of that note you gave me. I know that it's just a failed attempt at a prank and if it is, Uchiha, I want to tell you one thing. You messed with the wrong guy. But if it is really true and you want to be my friend, I need to know.

Geez. This is so not like me. Look what you did to me Sasuke. Maybe your prank wasn't as un-affective as I thought. I mean look at what I've resorted to. Naruto Uzumaki is not one to write sappy notes like this to anyone. Especially you. You are my rival, Sasuke, and no matter what that is what you will always be. I wish that wasn't the case but it is.

Please write me back. I want the truth. No, I _need_ the truth.

-You know who I am

Me: Review! Don't forget to join me next chaptie:D

Gaa-kun: The end peoples.


	3. Chapter 3

Me: Here we go! Let's get this party...or fic...started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaa-kun: What about the disclaimer?

Me: You do it.

Gaa-kun: No. I tryed to do it last time. Remember?

Me: Fine then. I do not own anything...not even Gaa-kun...

Gaa-kun: Hell yeah!!!!

line thingy...

Sasuke's POV:

Sasuke was furious. He had just read the letter that his secret love had given him and he was furious. When he had written his letter it was straight from the heart, a first for him, that is, since his parents had died. And still, Naruto didn't believe him! He really was a baka to think that Uchiha Sasuke would sink so low as to write a pact of friendship as a joke. Uchiha Sasuke does not lie. Not now, not ever. Sasuke could only find one way to set his rival and crush straight. He would write another letter. A longer one this time and make sure there was no room to question his intent. As an added bonus, when he was through Naruto would be his for sure. The blond would no longer just be a baka, he would be Sasuke's baka.

Sasuke looked around the room to make sure that Naruto was nowhere in sight before starting to work. He glanced up at the study hall teacher to see if he could read the note, but luckily today the teacher was Kakashi. Of course, the silver hair teacher was focused on his perverted book and wasn't paying the slightest amount of attention to what Sasuke was doing. Sasuke sighed before starting.

Dobe,

What is wrong with you?!?!?!?! Of course I meant it. I really want to be your friend. Actually, I want to be more than even that; more than a friend.

I swear upon my parent's graves that the note I gave you wasn't a prank. It was far from it. Even though it was a forced letter, it doesn't mean that what I wrote was not true. I have had a secret crush on you since grade school. Do you remember that one time that...

Oh you remember, it was that time were someone pushed you into me and we accidentally kissed. I realized afterward that I hadn't wanted that kiss to ever end and that I loved you. So that's it Naruto.

I love you. Do you love me too?

Please say that you do.

With all my heart,

Sasuke

Sasuke shook his head at the letter. He could practically see the sappiness dripping off of it. He rubbed his temples before raising his arm.

Somehow Kakashi managed to see his hand without even looking up from his book. Still reading and gigging, the silver haired teacher walking over to Sasuke's desk to answer his question.

"Kakashi sensei, can I go to the bathroom?" Sasuke monotoned.

"I don't know. Can you?" The perverted teacher asked.

"Oh come on sensei. Fine. _May _I go to the bathroom?" Sasuke sighed, running his hand through his ebony hair.

He was out of there before his teacher even had a chance to nod and made his way towards the lockers. In this school everything was alphabetical. Of course that meant lockers too, and since Uzumaki was so close to Uchiha, their lockers were practically next door to each other. Of course, each locker had a lock so Sasuke couldn't open Naruto's, but there were three long slits in each locker to let in air. Sasuke stuffed the letter into the blond's locker before heading back to class; a small smirk playing on his face.

Naruto would be his.

line thingy again...

Me: Ya that's what he thinks.

Gaa-kun: Ummm, but he's right.

Me: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa but still.

Gaa-kun: Just end it already.

Me: Alright, alright. Calm down. Ok...bye everyone! Review :D


	4. Chapter 4

Me: Oooooooooookay! Don't own Naruto and don't read if you don't like yaoi.

Gaa-kun: Wow. That was unusually fast.

Me: I know. Isn't it great?

Gaa-kun: Whatever. Here it is…

Me: Wait! I almost forgot the reviewers: WeIrD-fRoG, here-jus-bcuz, wormbate, badlevel50percent, SoraxRiku18, Cheekyanericangirl211, MyBroken-BleedingHeart, shadow'ofthe'night13, Angemecanique, and Scarred MoonDream. Thanks so much for reviewing! Cookies for all:D

Gaa-kun: So much for fast. Now here it is.

Naruto stared, gaping, at the piece of paper in his slightly tanned hands with unblinking eyes. Only one thought ran through his otherwise empty mind. Sasuke…loved him?

Sasuke LOVED him!!!

Naruto couldn't believe it. _Sasuke_, the most popular boy in the entire school, loved _him_, the class clown for as long as he could remember. This boy had the whole school's population of girls, and some of the boys, trailing after him with drool dribbling down their chins and he wanted Naruto? The blond hadn't even thought that Sasuke was…like _that_ until now, and certainly wasn't expecting this.

With a shaking hand Naruto started writing on the back of the letter.

Dear Sasuke,

I love you too. I always have and I always will.

Naruto

Sasuke watched Naruto's retreating back before directing his gaze back at the object the blond had left in his hands. It looked like another note. Not just any note either. The one Sasuke had given the dobe earlier.

What was this? Sasuke's dark eyes hardened. Was Naruto rejecting his confession? Sasuke drew in a breath and unfolded it.

Sasuke's first impression was that the note had been undisturbed but when he turned it over he found otherwise.

Naruto had written back. And not only had the baka responded he had accepted Sasuke's offer.

In fact, the note pledged that the blond in question loved him back.

Sasuke's pale face was graced with its first real smile in years as Sasuke set off towards the direction Naruto had gone.

He would make him his, and he would do it now.

Sasuke searched the school grounds with an air of a man on a mission. Sasuke needed to find Naruto.

The black haired teen found his love sitting against a hallway wall with his head in his hands. Before Sasuke made his presence known he took a small breath and put a smirk fit for a sex god on his face. This was it.

"What are you doing out of class, dobe? I thought Tsunade told you that the next time you skipped you'd be suspended." Sasuke practically monotonded.

Naruto jumped at Sasuke's voice before settling in with the familiar, yet different, banter. He put on a smirk of his own that he'd be proud to say rivaled even that of the Uchiha's and stood.

"Was that supposed to be some sort of pickup line, teme?"

"What, it wasn't sexy enough for you?" Sasuke faked a pout.

Naruto walked toward his love, close enough that they were only about five inches apart.

"No, I thought it was just perfect."

Sasuke quickly closed the distance between them and kissed his blond for the first time since the grade school accident. This time was different though, and not just because there was tongue. This time they were in love.

Me: Please give me some suggestions on how to continue this fic…please? (Puppy face)

Gaa-kun: Wow, anyway…until next time! Oh god, I think she's rubbing off on me. (Evil eye twitch)

Me: That's right sand boy! Bwahahahaha! You're now OOC:D

Gaa-kun: I'll kill you. (Death glare)

Me: (runs) Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Me: I'm finally back! Didja miss me?!

Gaara: I can answer that question for everyone. NO.

Me: You're just jealous because you thought I would never update…and you were wrong! Hehe! What now?! (happy dance)

Gaara: (sigh) She apologizes for being so late on updating and thanks everyone for being so patient with her and her ridiculousness. (turns to author) Did I get it right?

Me: I don't recall telling you to call me ridiculous…

Gaara: Whatever. (turns towards readers) She doesn't own anythi…

Me: (interrupts) And thanks to all my reviewers: Pink-xXx- KissScarred MoonDream Ro-Ho WeIrD-fRoG badlevel50percent wormbate here-jus-bcuz and especially The Silver Wolf because this entire chapter was spawned from her idea! Thank you!

And since I had a request for a re-cap I have a very short one right here for you. XD

* * *

Re-cap:

Ok, so Naruto and Sasuke had been fighting and Kakashi wanted it to end. He told Sasuke to write a letter of apology to Naruto and in it Sasuke wrote that he wanted to be friends with Naruto. Naruto didn't believe it at first but Sasuke eventually convinced him that it was true, except that instead of just wanting to be friends he wanted to be more than that. Naruto wanted the same thing so they started dating…which leads up to now.

The behind the scenes stuff you didn't see:

Naruto's best friend, Gaara, is holding a grudge against Naruto's other friends, Kiba and Shikamaru, and so hasn't been hanging out with him recently. Shikamaru and Kiba are friends with Naruto but he doesn't consider them close enough to talk with them about secrets…or feelings. Shikamaru is gong out with Gaara's sister and Gaara is trying to get her to dump him.

Sasuke's brother, Itachi, is going out with Shisui and has cared for his little brother ever since their parents died. Unlike in Naruto Verse Sasuke just finds Itachi slightly annoying and doesn't hate him.

Sakura and Ino are the gossip queens of the high school and have huge crushes on Sasuke. They hang out with Naruto sometimes but only enough to just barely be considered friends. Sakura is also the head of the school newspaper and is completely in charge of the gossip section with Ino as her only helper.

Oh! And basically all of the people in the school are homophobic…did I forget to mention that?

And there is the recap!

* * *

"Hey Kib." Shikamaru called softly to his dog-loving friend, poking him with the butt of his pencil to wake him up. Kiba jolted awake and looked over at the teacher to make sure she hadn't noticed. If she had she wasn't saying anything.

"Hmm?" Kiba rubbed his eyes sleepily and turned in his seat towards his lazy friend.

"Look over at Naruto." Shikamaru pointed over at their friend with a thoughtful look on his face. "He seems a little strange today."

Kiba twisted in the direction he was pointing and found the little blond sitting front row and center; right in front of Ms. Anko.

"Really? What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, but just look at where he's sitting. He would never sit up front unless a teacher bullied him into it and he doesn't seem too mad. Actually, he looks happier than I've seen him in a while."

"Yeah, now that you mention it he's been that way all day. Whoa, and look Shika, he's even paying _attention_. Didn't we tell him that paying attention to lectures was for losers?"

"Somethin' must've happened." Shikamaru sighed. "And I suppose we have to figure it out. Sakura wanted me to get some gossip for her newspaper anyway. How troublesome."

"We'll catch him after class before he leaves. We'll get it out of him somehow. Friends don't keep secrets from each other."

"Well, at least he doesn't keep secrets from us." Shikamaru smirked.

"Hehe, yeah. Oh, that reminds me, how are you and Temari doin'?"

"Shikamaru sat back in his chair and sighed. "Better than before but still not good. I think she's actually starting to believe whatever Gaara's tellin' her."

"That little piece of shit!" Kiba almost yelled. Ms. Anko's head snapped around.

"Kiba! Watch your language! And if I see you and Mr. Nara over there talking during my class again you areboth getting detention. Am I clear?!" Kiba gulped and nodded. Anko could be very scary when she wanted to be.

Shikamaru shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "Troublesome."

* * *

"Oi Shika, matte!" Kiba ran over to his friend; purposely tripping a few freshies on the way.

"Have you seen Naruto yet?" Shikamaru slung his backpack more securely over his right shoulder.

"Nope. I think he's at the curb already." Kiba scanned the crowd one more time before heading outside with Shikamaru beside him. Outside they looked around to find Naruto but the blond was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think he was already picked up?"

"No, Kakashi always drives him home, remember? And his car is over there." Shikamaru pointed lazily at Kakashi's jaguar (he still didn't know how he could afforded it) and noticed a fancy looking black car pulling up beside it. Once it was parked a tall, dark-haired figure climbed out of it. "Hey, isn't that Sasuke's brother?"

"Oh yeah. What's his name again…Itachi right?" Kiba scratched one of his tattooed cheeks.

"Mmmhm. Hey look, he's coming this way." Sure enough Itachi had caught sight of the teens and jogged over to them. Once he was close enough to hold a conversation he took of his dark sunglass revealing eyes as dark as his brothers' but with a slight red tint in them.

"Do you two by any chance know where Sasuke and Naruto are? I told them to meet me out here five minuets ago."

"Um, no…we haven't." Kiba answered when Shikamaru didn't. Itachi nodded and began to leave before Shikamaru called him back.

"Wait!" He said with a suspicious look in his eye. "Why are you picking up those two together? They hate each other."

Itachi looked at them, confused, for a moment before a huge smile spread across his face. "No, of course they don't! They're in love! I can't believe you two didn't know that!" He laughed when he saw the boys' jaws drop. "Oh, and if you see them tell them that Shisui and I have to be somewhere soon so we'll have to drop them off on their date a little early. Thanks!" With that Itachi turned and skipped off merrily, leaving two stunned boys behind. Shikamaru took out his cell slowly, still not really believing what had happened.

"Hey Sakura I think I found you a topic for your article…"­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

"NANI!?" Ino screamed as Sakura explained this week's new headline. "Who told you this?!"

"Shikamaru just called while you where in the other room." Sakura pointed a hot pink nail at her equally pink cell accusingly. "He said he heard it straight from Sasuke's brother." Both girls were fuming, jaws set, and fists clenched.

"How could this happen? Not only is it wrong but it's Sasuke! MY Sasuke!"

"I know!" Sakura growled. "That's why I want this story on the front page; to see how they like it! By tomorrow the entire school will hate them and we will have our revenge! Sasuke broke our hearts. We'll break his reputation. And Naruto."

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­Me: Time for some good Sakura bashing!! Cha! 

Gaara: Yeah, but that was all the Sakura bashing you have planned. (sweat drop)

Me: Hehe…right. I'll think of something…

Until next time! XD


	6. Chapter 6

Me: Hola! Since I really didn't say in my last chapter how sorry I was for the lack of updates…

I'm sooo sorry about the delay. Please forgive me!

Gaara: You are a disgrace to all fan fiction writers.

Me: Ya…

Gaara: But cheer up! It's not like you have to make a new Naruto show every week. 'Cause guess what? You don't own it!

Me: You're a sadist.

Gaara: I know.

Me: (runs to corner to be emo)

* * *

"W-why?" Naruto sobbed into Sasuke's chest, tears soaking into his shirt. "S-Sasuke…why d-do they not understand? I thought they were my f-friends."

"Shhh. It's ok honey. They'll come around. And if they don't, I'm here. I'll always be here."

"But why? They were my friends. How could they betray me like this? I mean I kind of expected Sakura and Ino to be mad but…" Naruto sobbed louder and Sasuke stroked his hair soothingly. "A-and then Shikamaru and Kiba trying to beat me up? I don't know if I can handle it." Naruto's voice was almost in hysterics now. Sasuke had never wanted to see his blond ray of sunshine like this. He wanted to see Naruto's beautiful smile again.

Sasuke rocked the sobbing boy back and forth gently. "Why should what they say affect us? We're in love and nothing is going to change that, however hard they try."

"I-I know. I love you Sasuke."

"I love you too."

Naruto's tears were slowly subsiding. He looked up at his love and gave him a bitter-sweet smile which the older boy returned.

"Now do you think you're ready to go back to the cafeteria?" Naruto looked a little frightened when his boyfriend mentioned going back to where the others were but allowed Sasuke to help him up anyway. Sasuke wrapped his arms around him for support until he found his footing. They had only been together for about a month now and already they showed such care and gentleness with each other that many couples would only dream of reaching in years. It was actually a surprise that the others had not found out about them before.

Sasuke wiped the blond boy's eyes gently and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Naruto smiled again, hoping he looked at least more confident than he was feeling.

"That's good. Come on then."

Naruto followed his boyfriend out of the boys' bathroom and into the noisy cafeteria; their hands linked together. Naruto kept his eyes on the ground. He didn't want to see the glares that he knew were following his every movement. He heard a snarl beside him and looked up unintentionally. Kiba was about a foot away from him looking livid; Shikamaru not so far behind him. Kiba's stance clearly told them that he was about ready to attack and Shikamaru looked as if he would enjoy watching it.

Naruto turned towards the louder of the two first. "K-Kiba…I…"

"Don't try to explain this to me!" Kiba gestured to his and Sasuke's linked hands. "We should have seen you were a-a _faggot_ from the start."

Naruto trembled and turned towards the Shikamaru with a pleading look in his eyes. "Shika?"

"Don't 'Shika' me, Naruto. Kiba's right. We never should have associated with you. Not even the word 'troublesome' fits you now." Shikamaru shook his head and motioned to Kiba. It was a motion that said "do as you please".

Kiba smirked and let out another growl before Sasuke stepped in, shoving him to the ground.

"I wouldn't try it, dog-boy. Are you already forgetting who I am? I'm still Uchiha Sasuke and I'm still not afraid to kick your ass. Get lost." A crowd was now forming around the four boys and they were all chanting for a fight. But Kiba knew when to back off. He would not take on Sasuke. Not now, not ever.

Both of Naruto's ex-friends gave him one last soul bruising glare before pushing the crowd out of their way and high-tailing it out of the cafeteria. Naruto shivered. They would be back.

Sasuke dragged Naruto along until he reached an empty table where he sat, acting oblivious to the stares they were still getting. A thought suddenly occurred to Naruto.

"Sasuke…w-where are your friends."

"They don't matter right now Naruto. Don't worry about it." Naruto couldn't help but feel guilty when he realized that Sasuke was in the same position as he was. He looked around the lunch area trying to locate the two guys that Sasuke usually hung out with and found that Neji and Shino were at the opposite side of the cafeteria scowling into their food and refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry."

"Shut up dobe. I told you they don't matter." Sasuke walked gracefully over to the cafeteria lady and paid for two lunches while Naruto followed his movements with his cyan eyes. He suddenly caught a glimpse of red out of his peripheral vision and snapped his head around.

"Gaara why are you…?"

"Shut up. There're no other tables left." Gaara sat across from him, glaring at him with eyeliner ringed eyes. Naruto smiled, though, knowing that that was just Gaara's way of saying, 'We're still friends.'

"Thanks."

"No prob." Gaara murmured almost uncomfortably. He was obviously not accustomed to people thanking him. After years of being his friend Naruto could understand why. After what he'd gathered of it Gaara's background and childhood hadn't been a very pleasant one.

Gaara lazily glanced up at Naruto's approaching boyfriend. He waited for him to sit beside Naruto before speaking. "Hey Sasuke, take care of him will ya? He's a good kid. A good friend too."

Naruto's smile lit up ten fold. Gaara was not only approving of his relationship but he was actually acknowledging their friendship. The last time that had happened was when they first decided to "get along" two years ago. They had both been loners back then, before Shikamaru and Kiba would even look at Naruto. Naruto had seen the pale goth boy sitting all alone and they just decided that they needed each other. So from then on Naruto and Gaara had been best friends, though they had started hanging out less often once the other two boys befriended the blond. Gaara must've held some sort of grudge over the two. The only reason Naruto had not gone to Gaara with Sasuke's first letter was because Naruto hadn't known where he stood with the whole gay thing. He realized now that that was a foolish thought. Gaara would stand by him no matter what.

Naruto took Gaara's "friendliness" as a sign of forgiveness for hanging out with the others and started babbling animatedly to his old friend about this and that while Sasuke's arms encircled him from the side.

"Naruto?" Naruto paused his lively chatter at the sound of Sasuke's voice and turned towards the dark haired boy.

"What Sasuke-koi?" Naruto's eyes followed a path from Sasuke's gorgeous black eyes to his defined chin and then to his pink lips. He brushed them with his finger tips while he waited for Sasuke's question. It was surprising how quickly they had adapted to each other, and now that the cat was out of the bag and they were not afraid of PDA it was a lot easier to be together. They didn't have to hold themselves back now.

"I was…well…" Naruto caught Sasuke's eyes as they flickered down to look into his. Was Sasuke…nervous? Gaara was looking at them oddly; kind of a mix between curiosity and discomfort.

'That's not too surprising,' Naruto thought. 'I mean look at us. This has got to look really strange to Gaara.'

"What?" Naruto pressed.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out after school today. I-I mean Itachi was the one who really set up our only real date so far…and I thought it would be a good idea if…" Sasuke said quickly; breath tickling the fingers Naruto still had on his mouth. He took a breath and started again; this time more slowly. "So anyway, I was thinking ramen maybe?" There was dead silence at the table as a manic smile spread across Naruto's face.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!!!!" Naruto jumped up and did a little (not really) happy dance as the whole cafeteria watched. Sasuke sweat dropped. Gaara banged his head on the table.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Ramen! Woot! Hehe, and _I'm _not paying. Hehe, what now, Sasuke?!?!"

"I knew he'd snap one day." Gaara monotoned. "This is even worse than the last time."

Sasuke blinked. "No comment."

"Yeah that's right!!! Wooooooho! Ramen!"

"Are you done now?" Gaara asked calmly. He'd obviously dealt with this before.

"Yep!" Naruto plopped right back down beside Sasuke with an insanely large grin on his face.

"Should I start bringing the tranquilizer gun to school again?" Gaara asked.

"No! No tranquilizar. I'm under control. Yes I am." Naruto hid behind Sasuke who was still blanching.

"Wow." Sasuke said.

"I know."

Naruto smiled at both his friend and his boyfriend, happy once again. Things would be a lot better now that he had both of them. He could just feel it.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Gaara- Wow.

Me- I know.

Gaara- I'm actually in this.

Me- Yep.

Gaara- Wow.

Me-I know. Review peoples! Wait...who should I pair Gaara with?? Hinata? Lee? Maybe Neji realizes his mistake and actually doesn't hate gays and falls for Gaara!! (cricket) …What?! I'm dead serious!

Gaara: (sweat drop) I'll have to go with what Sasuke just said on this one…No comment.

Me: You decide peoples!

XD


	7. Chapter 7

Me: A new A/N. Hmmmm. What to write, what to write…

Gaara: Disclaimer: She doesn't own Naruto. Warning: Author is crazy. (turns toward Psychopaths) There. I've done my part. I'm outta here.

Me: Fine, go! Leave me all alone to fend for myself in this cruel, cruel jungle. By myself!

Gaara: Sure. Bye.

Me: (sigh) Anyways, thanks sooo much to my reviewers! You all gave me such inspiration!

My wonderful, beautiful reviewers: Sabaku no Kurai, Pink-xXx-Kiss, shadow'ofthe'night, Cheekyamericangrl21113, kiba's kunoichi, Mystic-Neko85, The Silver Wolf, narutoXsasukelover, UchihaUzumaki baby, shay072002, mistress0of0sin, HuMaN-EaTiNg-PaNdA -HEP-, SanctuaryBackwards, and Ro-Ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Onwards!

* * *

"Stop!" Naruto cried as the looming figures approached him. He trembled like a leaf, eyes darting, trying to find a gap between the two larger boys. He needed to escape.

An insane smile crept over Kiba's face. He cracked his knuckles one by one as he stared down at his former friend. Shika's-no _Shikamaru's_- eyes were narrowed dangerously as both his and Kiba's shadows enveloped the small, cowering teen.

"P-please stop." Naruto's eyes widened. Neither of his attackers listened and both took a step forward. Naruto pushed himself back against the concrete wall behind him, as if it would provide him the safety he desperately wanted.

It didn't.

Kiba drew back a fist and punched him straight in the face.

Naruto cried out before the sobs he had been trying to hold back shook his body. His vision blurred between the pain and the tears but he blinked them back to focus. He needed to stay conscious. He needed to protect himself. Sasuke wasn't here to save him this time.

Tanned arms sprang to shield a bruised face in hopes that they would provide some shelter against the attacks. Naruto yelled again as they did no good.

Shikamaru was taking his turns at him; kicking and punching like Naruto had never thought the lazy ass capable of doing. Kiba pushed the other aside and aimed another punch at the blond boy's face. Naruto shut his eyes tight and prepared himself for the pain.

But the pain never came.

Naruto heard a lowered voice saying words he could quite make out followed by the squeak of multiple tennis shoes on pavement. He still did not open his eyes. Maybe they were still there.

"It's ok, kid. You can relax now. They're gone." Naruto slowly opened his eyes to blink up at the person leaning over him. Even as the small boy took in the older one's dark hair, pale eyes, and gentle smile he was still confused as to whom the identity of his savior was. It took a few more seconds to realize the he did, in fact, know this person but when he did he screwed his eyes shut once more.

"Don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me." He whispered in a frightened voice that he was desperately trying to control. Naruto did like the way his voice sounded right now. He felt so weak and powerless but he didn't want anyone else to know. He guessed it was a little too late for that now, though. Naruto had always prided himself for being strong but he had had no idea that his old friends were that insanely strong and so was taken by surprise at the fact that he couldn't even fight back. Naruto probably could have taken on one of them but definitely not both at the same time. And he _knew_ he couldn't take Neji. Suddenly a hand was placed on the blonde's shoulder, interrupting his thoughts. Soon another hand followed the first but was placed under Naruto's chin, forcing it up.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Naruto opened his eyes again slowly and was surprised to see Neji kneeling down beside him, still with one hand cupping his face and the other on his shoulder. The soft smile was also still there making Neji look very different than Naruto was used to. Neji always looked so…cold when he was at school.

"B-but weren't you one of Sasuke's friend's? Aren't you mad?"

Neji shook his head. "No. Just a little…shocked. I was more mad about the fact that Sasuke didn't tell me than anything. Don't worry about it." Naruto relaxed and even smiled just a bit.

"Now, come on. You look awful." Neji withdrew his hands from Naruto before standing and offering one to him. Naruto took it gratefully and used it as leverage to stand. He hissed at the pain this caused him. Neji noticed this and eased the boy back down again.

"Do you want me to bring you to my house? It's right near here. We can get you cleaned up." Neji looked as worried as Naruto had ever seen him. That wasn't really saying much, though, considering how stoic he and his friend, Shino, always were.

"It's ok. My house is right down that way. Besides, Iruka won't be home yet and Kakashi still has work to do at the school so my house is empty. I can bandage myself up and Iruka hopefully won't even notice." He swiped his nose and grimaced at the bit of blood that the motion had left on his fingers. "Just let me rest here for a bit." Neji nodded and sat down next to the blond.

"So how'd you end up walking past this alley anyway?" Naruto asked after a bit of comfortable silence.

"Hinata is doing this new thing where she wants to walk to and from school everyday, you know, for the environment, so she got me in the habit of doing it too. She drove home with Ten-ten today, though. Her house is all the way up by Sasuke's."

Naruto nodded his head and stared foreword at the concrete wall across from him. He and Neji lapsed into another bout of silence until Naruto felt well enough to stand. Neji helped him in the direction of his home by supporting his weight; Naruto had one arm draped around Neji's shoulders and Neji had a pale arm wrapped around the other boy's waist.

The two walked in silence until they reached the bond's home. Lucky for them Shikamaru and Kiba had only caught the speed demon about a block away from his destination so his house wasn't far.

Once Naruto was safely in the doorway of his home he lifted his arm from Neji's shoulders and thanked him for helping. Neji nodded in return and began to leave but Naruto called him back,

"Neji," Naruto leaned against the door to take some of his weight off his still-unsteady feet. "Umm…are you planning on becoming friends with Sasuke again?"

Neji looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "I think Shino and I are going to apologize tomorrow morning. Why?"

"Well, um, would it be possible for you to, uh, not tell him about this?" Naruto looked nervous. In truth he was afraid of what would happen to Shikamaru and Kiba if his boyfriend found out. Naruto may not have been friends with them anymore but he didn't want them hurt. Come to think of it, Gaara wouldn't be too pleased either. Telling him might be worse then telling even Sasuke.

He voiced all these opinions to Neji and was relieved when the pale eyed boy nodded again.

"Thanks."

"No prob. See you at school." Neji turned again, leaving Naruto to find his way into the house and then his bedroom by himself.

* * *

"Oi Naruto! Sasuke's on the phone!" Iruka held a hand over the receiver as he shouted for his adopted son. As Naruto came dashing down the stairs Iruka didn't comment on a bandage that was covering part of the boy's face or the many little band-aids covering what he could see of his arms. Iruka didn't find it unusual in the least; his son had never been a graceful one.

Naruto took the cordless phone from Iruka's hands and bounced up the stairs after muttering a brief "thanks" to him.

Iruka sighed when he heard the door to Naruto's room shut and promptly plopped down on the old living room couch. Kakashi would be over soon for dinner and he really didn't feel like making anything. Maybe he would just order some take out…

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

"I can't come tonight. I've barely started my homework."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow's good."

"I'm sorry that I had to delay the ramen date but something came up with Itachi and Shisui…"

"No big, as long as I get my ramen. But you _do _know what this means, right?"

"What?"

"You owe me interest. I'm thinkin all you can eat."

"Great. Should I be worried about my wallet?"

"You're pretty rich, right teme?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at…?"

"In that case you'll be just fine."

"Naruto what do you mea-"

"Oh, Kakashi's here! Got to go set the table. Adios Sasuke!"

"Naruto!"

* * *

­"Ni-san, ni-san!"

Neji cracked open a pale eye and unfolded his legs from his meditative position. "What is it Hanabi-sama?"

"How do I look?"

"Very…nice, Ni-chan." Neji rolled his eyes as his twelve year old cousin pranced around the Hyuuga household in a overlarge leather jacket and a pair of torn up jeans banging her head to imaginary music. As of currently, he was question her sanity.

"You don't think it's a little bland? Be scrutinus, really. I _have_ to look perfect for this date."

Neji quirked a perfect eyebrow at the younger Hyuuga. "Date? What date?"

Hanabi didn't stop her strange dance for even a second. "The date Kevin's picking me up for tonight. We're going to a Panic! At the Disco concert. Booya baby!"

"A concert, hmm. And I trust Hiashi-sama already knows about this, correct?"

"Eh?" Hanabi's dance faltered. "Oh, right. I kind of forgot about that part."

Neji rubbed his temples with a sigh. "Even putting that aside it's already seven. What time were you planning on coming back?"

Hanabi shrugged sheepishly. "Kev said it would probably go till eleven but still, all my homework's done and everythi-."

Neji wasn't done. "And since when does your father even allow you to date, period? You're twelve for pity's sake!"

"Yeah and you're old and girlfriend-less. Maybe if you spent a little less time on "school work" and more time on going to rockin' concerts like this you wouldn't be in fore-mentioned condition."

_Ding-dong_

"Coming!" Hanabi skipped over to the door while Neji sighed for the second time. He jumped down from his perch on the granite island separating the expansive kitchen from the even larger living room and followed his cousin to the door. Hanabi admitted a dirty-blond haired boy into the house with a flirty grin.

"Nice outfit, babe." The twelve-year-old Kevin said with a wink. Hanabi giggled and blushed at the comment. Neji cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the cute little "couple".

"You must be Kevin." Neji gave the boy a polite smile that clashed with the glare he was shooting with his eyes. He extended a pale hand. "I'm…happy to meet you. I'm Neji, Hanabi's cousin."

Kevin was clearly unnerved by the dark waves the male Hyuuga was emitting but still took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you."

"It's a shame that my uncle couldn't meet you tonight, I'm sure he would love to have a nice talk with you. Unfortunately he's out right now."

Kevin nodded nervously. Neji's demeanor _was _a little threatening. Actually, death was practically tangible in the air. Neji could be a little over protective when it came to his two younger cousins.

"Yeah, that's a shame."

"Just one question for you, Kevin."

"W-what is it?"

"Who's driving you to this thing?"

"My mom…?"

"Thank you, that's all I need." Neji brushed past the two kids and stepped out the door to have a nice little chat with Mrs. Kevin.

* * *

As Naruto rushed into the cafeteria he was surprised to see his table almost filled with people. Not only were Sasuke and Gaara sitting there now but Neji, Shino, Haku, Hinata, Lee, Choji, Sai, and Ten-ten were there as well. Naruto grinned as a space between his boyfriend and closest friend was cleared for him to sit on. As he slipped into the bench was instantly pulled into the conversation his friends were having.

"N-naruto-kun, you'll never guess what Neji did to my little ni-chan last night." Hinata giggled. Since grade school she had become much bolder and hardly ever stuttered though she had been quite shy around Naruto before his little "announcement".

"Do I _want_ to know?" All but the most stoic of Naruto's old-yet-new friends chuckled at his response. Naruto glanced over at Neji who was sitting between Sasuke and Shino to the left of him. He was staring indignantly at his food looking very uncomfortable at being to center of attention.

Hinata blushed lightly and smiled. "It's n-nothing like that. It's just funny."

"K…what happened?"

"Well, I was staying over at T-ten-ten's place yesterday and at about seven-thirty-ish at night I got a call from Hanabi saying that Neji had ruined her night because he scared away her date and c-cursed at his mom. Apparently I missed our perfect little Neji acting up for once. I _so_ would have l-loved to see it." Hinata giggled again while Neji hid a blush behind his dark hair. The table burst out laughing again, half at the story and half from Neji's humility. Naruto glanced at Gaara out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to find the red-head smirking in Neji's direction.

"_Someone's_ a little possessive. Can't even let your cousin date, can you, Neji?" Gaara's smirk widened as the whole table stopped laughing and slowly turned to face him.

"G-gaara…d-did you just t-talk?" Hinata said, shock worsening her stutter.

"I _do _do that occasionally, yes." Gaara said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but, only to me." Naruto stared at his best friend. "What did you do with my Gaara?! Give him back!" Naruto grabbed the red-head's shoulders and shook him, hoping that he would admit defeat and hand over the real Gaara.

"Seriously, Naruto. Get your hands off of me or die."

"It _is_ you, Gaara!" Naruto went to hug his friend but stopped mid-action at the heat of his glare.

"I said. Do. Not. Touch."

"A-alrig-I mean, y-yes sir!" Naruto promptly got up from his set and sat between Shino and Sasuke, using his boyfriend as a shield from Gaara's death rays. The whole table laughed at his actions. Gaara wasn't done with Neji yet, though.

"So Hyuuga, you gonna answer me or not?" Gaara crossed his arms at the paled eyed teen.

"Not worth my breath…considering you shield your _older_ siblings. At least Hanabi's twelve. Temari's what, sixteen maybe?"

Gaara glared but gave up on the other teen as the table was laughing at _him_ at this point. He turned back to Naruto just as Neji turned back to his lunch.

"So Shino, when are you going to show me that bug collection of yours?"

"…"

"He's…s-saying…that he'll show you the bugs as soon as you show him this supposed boyfriend guy. Z-zabuza was it?"

"Wow, Hinata. How do you get that out of one glare with sun glasses?"

"It's a gift. Well, a gift developed through practice. Y-you would learn too if you were friends with this lump since grade two."

Neji blinked up from his food and craned his neck so that he could see Gaara around his friends only to find that the red-head was looking at him again. Neji smirked at the slightly younger teen in his Hyuuga "I'm-so-hot" way and thought that maybe, just maybe, he could detect a blush on Gaara's face before he turned again towards Naruto.

Neji smirked once more…though to himself this time. The Hyuuga had decidedly taken a liking to making the red-head uncomfortable. Not a liking to the boy himself though…nooo. That was against his way. He just liked seeing the younger boy squirm. And blush. He _definitely_ liked that blush.

* * *

Me- Author here…apologizing for the very lame ending…and hoping that you aren't too mad at her.

Gaara-Lame.

Me-Lame. By the way…I'm hoping that next chapter can be completely dedicated to Sasuke and Naruto's date and NejiGaa. .

Until next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: I had to re-upload this because I was re-reading it and found that many of the words were missing…and for people who have read all of this fic the next chapter should be up soon…ish. XD. **

**Please tell me if you notice any of my other chapters have missing words. I'll re-upload them for you. **

* * *

_Tick tock tick tock_

'Grrrrr. Can that clock get any slower?'

_Tick tock_

'That's right, almost there.'

_Tick tock_

'Come on…'

_tick tock tick_– _briiiiiiiiing_

"Yes!" Naruto swept his books into his bag with one quick motion and was out the door before anyone else had even thought about getting up. He had been looking forward to this date all day. He wasn't about to be late.

The blond made it down the hall and collected his books in what appeared to everyone else as an orange blur. He stepped out of the school just in time to see a long black car with shaded windows pull up at the curb. Naruto grinned and knocked on one of the windows. Unsurprisingly when it was rolled down it revealed a slightly ravished looking Itachi grinning up at him. Naruto could only wonder how Shisui could manage to put his boyfriend in this state even while driving.

"Hola Naru-chan! Wait…what are you doing here? You shouldn't be out for a couple more minutes." Itachi looked around the empty parking lot before leaning over towards Shisui to unlock the doors. He eeped slightly as Shisui gave him a sultry wink from behind his messy, semi-short black hair as he did this.

"Oh, hehe…I guess I beat the crowd, lucky me." Naruto swung his backpack into the backseat and followed it in.

"Yeah, looks like it. Considering everyone is just getting out _now._" Shisui put his sarcastic two-cents in.

"_So_?"

"Quit glaring at my brother's boyfriend, dobe." A mono-toned voice floated in the open car door before a dark blue backpack was thrown at the blond boy.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed as the older boy got in next to him, attempting to cuddle up against him even with the backpacks in between them.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Sasuke commanded while moving the backpacks aside to let Naruto move closer to him.

"Oh, right." Shisui turned back toward the steering wheel and pulled the car out into the street. Itachi, though, did not move a muscle. He was staring intently at Naruto as if he were a puzzle in need of solving. Naruto didn't notice this at first because he was too focused on his boyfriend but after a while he caught Itachi's dark eyes staring at him and started squirming under the older boy's gaze.

"What's that around your eyes, Naruto?" Itachi was suddenly serious.

"Oh this?" Naruto pointed at the black rings surrounding his eyes, one of which was covering the remainder of a nasty black eye. "Gaara let me use some of his kohl. I'm surprised, actually, cause he's always so protective of his eye-makeup. I think he's afraid Temari will steal it when she runs out of eyeliner."

"That's weird; I was under the impression that you weren't a fan of eyeliner."

"Kohl."

"Kohl then. I was under the impression that you weren't a fan of _kohl_. Why the sudden change of heart?"

Naruto was starting to look uncomfortable. "W-well…I wear it for the same reason Gaara does."

"Gaara uses it to cover his eye bags, dobe. You know that." Sasuke was now giving Naruto the same look as his brother: suspicious and a little worried.

"_Yeees_…but it also makes his glare much more effective, doesn't it?"

"So you want to scare people?" Shisui asked from the driver's seat.

"No!"

Sasuke reached out a hand to wipe away some of the black make-up. "Then what is-"

"Don't touch it!" Naruto slapped the other boy's hand away rather harshly. Sasuke looked hurt but proud as he demanded to know the reason for Naruto to need to cover his eyes in black.

"I-I…" Naruto struggled for an excuse. "did it for you! That's right, I wanted to see if you liked it…so what do you think?" Naruto lied to the dark haired boy with difficulty, but he didn't want to face the consequences of him learning the truth just yet.

Sasuke still looked suspicious and, for a moment, the blond was afraid he wouldn't buy it. Then Sasuke's expression softened and he leaned closer still to hug his boyfriend.

"It's perfect, Naruto."

It was now Naruto's turn to be surprised but hid it by hugging Sasuke back with a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt you two but we're here." Sasuke and Naruto separated themselves with a heartfelt sigh from the blond and a scowl from the brunet. They proceeded out of Itachi's car and started over to the restaurant. Naruto and Sasuke had both been to Ichiraku Ramen before though separately; Sasuke because of his brother and Naruto because it was his favorite restaurant on earth.

Shisui, like Sasuke, wasn't much of a ramen fan but liked Ichiraku because it held the memory of his and Itachi's first date. Even though he didn't act like it, Shisui could be pretty sentimental when he wanted to be.

"You two can go now, you know." Sasuke said, finally realizing that Itachi and Shisui had walked them all the way to the entrance of the ramen restaurant. Itachi looked at his younger brother with exaggerated shook.

"And leave you two hormonal teenage boys alone together? Not on your life."

"You didn't stay for our last date!"

"We're friends of the owner of that restaurant. If anything had happened fish boy would gave been all over you."

"Come one! We're old enough to take care of ourselves and you know we're completely fine with each other."

"Yes but other people might not be. Homophobes, ya know."

"Okay then. No PDA."

"Hmmm." Itachi thought it over. "Ok. Shisui and I will sit over there, on the opposite end from where you will sit. Ok?"

"Hn. Fine." Sasuke knew he couldn't win and so stopped trying. He and Naruto would have at least a little more privacy without the two older men breathing down their necks.

Naruto pulled his boyfriend over to an empty booth that was mostly, but not completely, hidden from where the other couple was and gave him a stunning smile in an attempt to calm him down. The blond leaned forward from his side of the table so that he could reach Sasuke's hand under the table cloth. He was grateful for once that Ichiraku's was a semi-formal restaurant even though it was mostly ramen. There were even romantic candles at every table although they did little in the afternoon sun.

"So…whatcha wanna talk bout?" Naruto asked cutely, batting his long eyelashes up at his love in a joking way.

"I dounno. What do you wanna talk about?" Sasuke replied back with a smirk.

Naruto looked contemplative for a moment before a mischievous look came over him. "Gaara and Neji."

Tummies filled and plans made Naruto and Sasuke were just about ready to head back over to the Uchiha brother's apartment. They both agreed that the date had gone perfectly and that their plot was perfect as well. They had figured out a plan to get their two best friends together as both Sasuke and Naruto had realized that they had been acting strangely around each other at lunch the day before.

That night, as they slept soundly in their beds they thought of the day to come and what it would bring them…

* * *

"Hello?"

"Ello poppet! How's my favorite redhead doin?"

"…Hey Naruto…"

"Ummm I was wondering if you happened to be free today. I'm bored so I want you to come with me to the mall…so what do you think?" Naruto crossed his fingers and held his breath.

"Can't you go with Sasuke?"

"I just saw Sasuke yesterday! And anyway, I want to hang out with you!"

"Ok, fine." Naruto could hear Gaara sigh. "Is it the mall closest to your place?"

Naruto squealed in delight. "Thank you Gaara! And no, it's the one by Sasuke's house."

"OK then. Just give me some time to get dressed. How about I steal Temari's car for a bit and pick you up?"

"…Can you drive?"

"Well enough. Don't worry we won't get caught I do it all the time with Kankuro."

"In that case it sounds perfect."

"See you in a bit.'

"Kay, bye."

Naruto hung up the phone and hopped off his bed, running down to tell Iruka that Temari would be picking him up so he and Gaara could go to the mall.

When he got back upstairs he checked himself in the mirror again. He still had on some of Gaara's kohl but he had accented the look by pulling on some baggy black pants with some random straps and chains on it. He still wore an orange shirt with it, though. Granted it was a tight orange shirt with a gruesome looking skull on it but it was orange all the same.

Naruto's shoes comprised of some black converse with orange lining that were so beat up they had duck tape in some areas just to keep them together. On his hands were two fingerless black gloves and around his neck he wore an orange cloth chocker that tied in the back.

Naruto gave his reflection a thumbs-up and went downstairs again to wait for his best friend, only stopping to grab his orange cell and stick it in his pocket.

_Ding dong_

Naruto ran to get the door before Iruka did. He wasn't surprised to find Gaara standing on his front stoop with the hood of his black jacket up and with his lose black jeans draped with various sort of chains. Naruto noticed that Gaara's shirt was one he hadn't seen before, though. It was black with a single drop of blood taking up the front with the words "Crimson Rain" scrawling down it.

Naruto smiled at the redhead and pulled him towards his sister's car, shouting a goodbye to his adoptive father on the way.

Naruto sat in the front seat while Gaara got situated in the driver's seat next to him. After they were both buckled Naruto turned to his friend once more.

"So where'd you get that shirt from, Gaara?" Naruto tried to start a conversation but failed as Gaara turned to glare at him.

"No taking. Must concentrate on not getting us killed."

Naruto gulped and immediately shut up.

* * *

Five minutes and five blown red lights later Gaara and a thoroughly terrified Naruto walked into the mall. It took Gaara almost ten snaps in front of Naruto's face to get him back down to earth but when he did Naruto instantly grabbed his arm and led him to the nearest No Fear.

Naruto found about five shirts and two pairs of pants where as Gaara found a hoodie and nothing else.

"Hey while you buy that I'm just going to try this on. I think it might be a little small."

"Sure go ahead." Gaara waved his friend away. Naruto took the opportunity to duck into the changing room and text Sasuke.

'Where r u?' He typed out.

About three seconds latter he got a text back. 'Food court. By PE.'

'PE?'

'Panda Express dobe'

'b right over'

'c ya'

Naruto flipped his razor shut and walked out, loudly proclaiming that the shirt fit and he would buy it.

"Are you sure you want to eat here?" Gaara asked with a raised "eyebrow" as they sat down next to Panda Express. Naruto was craning his head looking around for Sasuke and so barely caught what his friend had said.

"Oh, yeah yeah. I'm sure." Naruto waved a hand at the redhead.

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh, nothing." Naruto said. "Hey, I'm just going to head over to the bathroom right over there, ok?"

"Sure. You want me to order for you?"

"Yeah. Just get me the same as you get. I'll pay you back."

Naruto ran off towards the men's room and after glancing around to see if Sasuke was there he took out his phone for a second time.

'We're here. Where r u now?'

'Neji wanted to go to paradise bakery…give us a sec. we're comin bac.'

'k'

'I c gaara.'

'good. make a huge deal/scene ad go sit w/ him.'

Naruto went back towards where Gaara was just in time to see Sasuke saying "Wow, what a coincidence! Hey is Naruto here with you? Are those seats taken?"

Badly acted but good enough.

Naruto quickly ran over and took the seat between his boyfriend and his best friend leaving it so that Neji had to seat next to Gaara. Everything was going just as planned.

After Naruto overplayed his part of "Sasuke, Neji! What a surprise!" they all dug into their meals and attempted at conversation.

"Sooo, Neji, do you have a particular place you want to go…? Hot Topic? Abercrombie?"

"Nah. Sasuke dragged me here. I have no say." Neji looked kind of anxious. Naruto figured it was because of Gaara's presence. Or it could be the fact that said red-head had been staring holes in the side of his face since the moment he sat down.

Naruto saw Sasuke casually put his cell under the table and silently starting to type without even looking down. After a few moments Naruto's cell phone beeped. He pulled it out and opened the text that was waiting.

'Talk about sexual tension, huh?' Naruto giggled though obviously couldn't answer at that moment.

"Who's that?" Gaara said something for the first time since Sasuke and his best friend had arrived.

"Uh, no one." Naruto quickly erased the message and stored the phone in his pocket. "Haku."

"Since when is Haku, no one?" Neji was always a little defensive when it came to Haku. One could only guess it's because of their long hair. They share a special bond because of it.

"You know I didn't mean it like that." Naruto sighed.

"Oh, right." Neji backed down.

"So Gaara, what'd you buy?" Sasuke glanced down at the No Fear bag the red head had set down in between his chair and Neji's.

"Jacket." Gaara said simply, refusing to turn his head in the direction of the bag.

"Can I see it?" Sasuke prompted as if he was talking to a young child in need of coaxing.

"Hn." Gaara grunted, giving Sasuke a fairly heated glare before quickly snatching the bag up and taking out the contents.

The hoodie was a crimson color that matched his hair perfectly with thick black lettering across it saying "Monster". All around it were interweaving skulls and weapons that broke of into the red of the fabric once again as they got farther from the main word. On the edge you could just make out a small logo of "No Fear".

"I love it!" Neji said suddenly. He actually went as far as to grab the hoodie from the smaller boy, making him blush and look away. "Come on, Gaara, put it on." After examining it thoroughly Neji had pushed it back at the mortified boy and actually starting helping him out of his other jacket to try on the new one. All in all Neji was acting completely different from usual. One might even say he was OOC.

Sasuke text Naruto one more time under the table.

'I told u all we needed was 2 get them 2geather. They do the rest 4 us.' Naruto s ed into his hand, but this time Neji and Gaara was too focused on each other to notice. Soon Naruto felt a warm hand wrap over his under the table and smiled up at his boyfriend who gave that hand a squeeze.

By the time Naruto and Sasuke looked back towards their best friends Gaara was in the new jacket with his face as red as his hair and Neji was sitting back admiring his work. Naruto thought Neji looked mighty pleased with himself, he even thought he caught a smirk on his face.

"I swear if we don't go to Hot Topic Gaara just might kill us all. He won't say it but he means it." Gaara nodded slightly at Naruto's comment, completely aware that Neji was watching his every movement. He resisted the urge to look over at the pale-eyed boy and also resisted from shaking his head violently from side to side. He couldn't get these thoughts out of his head. He had never felt so uncomfortable around another person before, he had never looked at someone the way he was looking a Neji before, and he had most definitely never EVER had his heart thump so wildly in his chest when he had thought of any other person before. And his mind wouldn't let him forget it.

"We'll go there _after_ we go to Claire's got it?" Sasuke stared down his boyfriend.

"Claire's? Why Claire's? That's a chick shop!" Naruto complained but let Sasuke lead the way anyway.

Gaara mentally sighed. Sasuke _had_ to be kidding. He would never go into a girly store like that. Never.

"Shut up, dobe. You'll see."

As the four teens got closer to the store Gaara saw a sign in the window that read "Free Ear piercing" and suddenly realized why they were there.

"Now I know this may be a blow to your manly pride, Naruto, but you're getting your ears pierced and you're not complaining."

Naruto's cry of "Whhhhhhhhhhhaaaatt?" could be heard from throughout the mall.

"Fine just your left ear for starters. I'm going to get two in the cartilage of my right ear and three on the lobe of my left. Neji already agreed to one in the cartilage and one in the lobe of his left. You have no choice."

It took Sasuke a while to strap Naruto down to the chair but it was over before Naruto knew it and he had a stud in his ear. After him Sasuke went and then Neji. What scared Gaara, though, was that while Neji was getting his ear done he wouldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Your turn Gaara!" Naruto squealed.

"What?" Gaara turned to his best friend, horrified.

"Come on! We all did it! Give in to peer pressure, Gaara, give in!"

"No. Way. In. Hell." Gaara glared.

"Just one. Please? For me?" Naruto gave him his best puppy eyes.

"No."

"Come one Gaara. It'll look nice." Neji stopped looking at his left ear in a handheld mirror and turned towards the redhead.

Gaara was unable to find his voice so just sort of gave a jerky head shake.

"I'll hold your hand. Please Gaara?" Neji asked, putting the mirror down and looking the redhead straight in the eye.

Silence filled the room and even the other customers seemed not to be talking. Gaara slowly sat down and pointed a finger at the upper cartilage of his left ear.

As the lady who was doing the piercing got a silver stud ready for him Neji stood beside the younger boy with a smile. He reached out a warm hand and took Gaara's smaller and perhaps paler one into it.

For a moment the whole world seemed to stop and all Gaara could see were Neji's eyes and all he could feel was the softness of his hand. He felt as though he could stay in this place forever and never tire of it. As long as Neji was here beside him he could be content.

"Gaara! You did it!" Naruto's high pitched voice blasted through Gaara's ears so loudly that he drew his hand back from Neji's as a reflex to cover his poor abused ears. As soon as he did he regretted it, though and because of that he felt a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Hey, that looks good." Sasuke's deep voice cut in over his boyfriend's rambles. It took Gaara several second to realize what he was talking about. When he did, though, he reached a hand up to feel the cool metal of an earring he didn't even remember getting.

"Here. Take a look for yourself." Neji held out the same mirror he had been using for himself before. Gaara avoided the bigger boy's gaze as he took the mirror and held it up in front of his face.

"I like it." He said simply, admiring the way the silver glinted as he turned his head.

"We can go if you're ready." Sasuke pointed in the direction of Gaara's favorite store. As Sasuke started to lead the way Gaara noticed him slip his hand into Naruto's and pull him along so that they were walking ahead of him and Neji. The two quiet teens walked level to each other in silence for a while before Neji seemed to get bored of it.

"You know, if Sasuke and Naruto are going to accidentally-on-purpose meet like this all the time I guess we should actually try to get along." He said.

"I-I guess so." Gaara said quietly.

"Good then we're agreed." Neji said with a faint smile on his lips. He looked down at Gaara with unreadable emotions in his eyes as he spoke. "Truce?"

"Truce." Neji held out a hand as Gaara did and they shook. Again as they pulled apart Gaara felt a sensation of loss and wished that he never had let go.

"I say that's good enough for the day. Why don't you say we call it quits?" Sasuke said. Naruto had already bought seven more clothing items and Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara had one each.

"Yeah. Sounds good to me."

"Ok then, who's your ride?"

"Gaara will drive me home. Is Itachi picking you up?"

"Yeah he should be waiting in the parking lot now."

"Alright then. We'll see you guys Monday at school."

"Kay. See ya." Naruto and Sasuke hugged each other goodbye as Neji and Gaara kinda just stood there awkwardly.

Once Sasuke and Neji had left Naruto dragged Gaara along to the car, wanting to hurry so that they wouldn't have to drive the car in the dark. If Gaara was a scary driver in daylight Naruto couldn't even think about driving at night.

As they got in the car and flung their bags to the back Naruto smiled at his best friend and looked pointedly at his new ear ring.

"That went perfectly." Naruto said, though only he knew the true meaning behind his words.

* * *

Me: I'm so sorry once again!!

Gaara: I think everyone's tried of hearing that by now.

Me: Yes but I still mean it. I was away for so long it's not even funny and I was a slacker when I got back. (cries)

Gaara: You got that right.

Me: Fine. Well, here's the disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Oh, and for one thing, the No Fear hoodie that I was talking about which Gaara bought I made up. There isn't actually a hoodie like that there.

Kay, Until next time!


	9. Chapter 9

Me: I don't own Naruto!

Gaara: She also say thanks to all of the following: iloveme5895, yaoi4evaneva, lady Alexas, NeveR ForsakE ME, and DarkRavie.

Me: Thank you:)

* * *

"Morning freak." Shikamaru laughed at his own joke, Kiba joining him after realizing that the comment had been meant to be funny. He looked at the small blond as his blue eyes started brimming with tears and he ran off to catch up with his friends. "Did you see that Kib? I swear he was about to cry. How pathetic." Shikamaru looked to Kiba for a response.

"Yeah, pathetic." Kiba said without much enthusiasm. After the initial shock of Naruto's secret Kiba really hadn't been much into making fun of the blond. After all, he had been friends with him for a long time, even if Shikamaru had just been using him as another person to put the blame on when something went wrong.

To Kiba Naruto had been more then just a scape goat. Now Kiba was surprised that he felt something akin to pity when Shikamaru harassed the younger teen.

"Hey, you ok dude? You keep on zoning out on me." Shikamaru waved a hand in front of Kiba's face; for once seeming almost genuinely concerned about him. Almost.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Kiba gave the brown haired teen a cheeky grin and pushed him in the direction of his history class. "You better get goin. Your class starts pretty soon."

"Yeah, see ya." With that Shikamaru dashed off into the crowd of people trying to find their next classes.

Kiba sighed and frowned. What was wrong with him? He shouldn't care about Naruto at all after what the blond had done. He was _gay_. How could Kiba even _pity _him?

Kiba ruffled his hair with another sigh before starting to head towards his next class.

"You miss him." Kiba turned around mid-step towards the sound of the voice.

He was startled to find Shino standing behind him.

"W-what?"

"You miss having Naruto as your friend, don't you?" The bug lover said from behind his over-large collar.

Kiba was shocked but, even as he was, he was also ticked that Shino even brought the subject matter up. "Why is it any of your business who my friends are?"

"When your friends start hurting my friends it becomes my business." Even with the sunglasses on Kiba could tell exactly what Shino was talking about.

"Neji told you." It wasn't a question.

The tallish teen nodded in a very definite way. "But don't worry he hasn't told anyone else and he made me swear to do the same but what you two did was wrong. Naruto has done nothing to hurt anyone. You had no right to hurt him."

The halls were almost empty now. They would be late for class.

"It was his choice." Kiba heard himself say. "He chose to go out with Sasuke and alienate himself to us. He must have known what was coming." Even as he said the words he knew he was wrong. He knew he was trying to convince himself even more then he was trying to convince Shino.

"Just don't let it happen again."

And with that Shino walked towards his class, leaving Kiba all alone.

* * *

"Wake up sleepy head." Hanabi's ish voice brought Neji to consciousness, forcing him to leave his pleasant dreams and awake in reality.

"What time is it Hanabi-sama?" Neji asked groggily. He wondered why he felt so sluggish and brain even as he emerged from sleep. He kept his eyes screwed shut against the light that threatened to seep through his eyelids.

"It's about 10:00 in the morning."

"What?!" Neji's eyes flew open as he tried to sit up in the bed and failed. Hanabi was holding him back. "Let me go Hanabi-sama! I have to get to school!"

"Are you crazy?! You have a fever! School's not important enough to risk your health for! Besides, you are in no condition to learn right now! So you lay right back down Mr.!"

At realizing that Hanabi was right, of course, Neji settled back into bed. Now that he thought about it he did feel as if he had a temperature. He remembered feeling a little sick that night but had hardly thought it would develop into a high fever in just one night.

"Why are you so anxious to get to school anyway?" Neji's cousin gave him a sort of smirk as she sat next to him at the edge of his bed. "Finally found a ?"

Neji blinked up at the dark haired ly. "What are you talking about? You know I only dedicate myself to school work."

"Oh don't give me that crap! Tell me about her. Is she pretty?"

"There is no and if there was I wouldn't tell…hey! What are you doing home! Shouldn't you be at school?!"

"Well…"Hanabi trailed off, looking guilty. "I thought I might have caught a little something from you so…I kind of told father I was sick…"

"You _lied _to Hiashi-sama?!" Neji was grateful for the distraction although at the same time he was horrified at what Hanabi had done.

"I wouldn't say I lied, per say, but I may have stretched the truth a little." Hanabi said sheepishly. She knew she was in trouble.

"That's it I'm calling Hiashi-sama and telling him about this, AND about your little boyfriend, Kevin!"

"No, Neji don't!" Neji reached for his cell and dialed. "Neji!!!"

* * *

"Neji's sick?!" Naruto asked Hinata for the seventh time that morning.

"Yes, N-Naruto, he's sick. S-I-C-K. Sick."

"But Sasuke and I were counting on him being here today. It won't work unless he's at school!" Naruto was panicking now; afraid that his and Sasuke's carefully thought out plan would all go to waste.

"What won't work, Naruto?" Hinata asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"The pl-" Sasuke reached over and clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth.

'Oh nothing. Never mind, Hinata."

"O-ok, then." Hinata walked away looking slightly worried and very confused.

Once she was completely gone from sight Naruto was released. "What was that for teme?!" Naruto did not like being smothered, even by his own boyfriend.

"I thought we agreed not to tell anyone about the plan. It might just leak to Neji. Or even to Gaara! Just imagine if that happe…"

"What're you guys talking about?" Gaara's voice cut over Sasuke's rant. He was quirking an eyebrow at the pair in much the same way that Hinata had done only moments before, obviously wondering what the couple was up to.

"Oh nothing." Sasuke said sheepishly.

"Pay no attention to us." The blond said before pulling his boyfriend away to find a more private place to make their plans.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­

"I'm telling you they're scheming something!" Gaara paced around the kitchen as Temari worked on making dinner.

"Scheming what?" Temari asked, giving the pasta another stir for good measure. She didn't want it burning again. Kankuro would complain.

"Well if I knew it wouldn't be this frustrating and I wouldn't even be talking to you about it." Temari's younger brother stopped his pace and turned to face her. "All I know is that it has something to do with me and maybe even with Neji. Besides that I know zip."

"Mmhm. Sounds like they want to get you two friends. At least that's what I'm picking up off of it." Temari tucked a lose strand of blond hair behind her ear and added some veggies to the tomato sauce. "Maybe you should go along with it. You need a good relationship in your life."

"Yeah, like you know so much about relationships." Gaara glared at her with kohl rimmed eyes. "I can't believe you are still going out with Shikamaru after all that he's done to Naruto."

Temari sighed. Not this again. "I swear I'll dump him the moment I hear he's actually physically hurt your little friend but until then I'm not going to leave him. Ok?" She turned back towards her cooking. She believed that the conversation was over.

"No. It's not ok, Temari. When are you going to realize that Shikamaru is not a good person? I mean you should have figured it out the moment he h-"

Temari swirled around, fire in her eyes. "I told you NOT to talk about that! We are done speaking right now. Just go to your room and do some homework or something."

Gaara turned towards his room but stopped at the door. "You know, Temari, maybe next time neither Kankuro nor I will be there to save you." Gaara closed the door behind him with a click.

Temari rubbed her temples with her fingers to calm herself down before going back to cooking the pasta. Kankuro would complain if it burned.

* * *

Me: Thanks for reading! Please review if you have any comments, suggestions, or even just encouragement.

Gaara: Yeah, she likes that.

Me: Mmhm yeah. Until next time!


	10. Chapter 10

OHMYGOD I haven't updated this in like a year. Thank you so much Narutard Kiba for pulling me out of my horrid writing block. You're a lifesaver.

Warning: I think I was high when I wrote this. It's all…wow. Just wow.

Disclaimer: Naruto is obviously not shounen-ai at the moment…if you don't include Haku's little fling with Zabuza in the very beginning…so I obviously don't own it.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

"Ok we've called you all here tonight because we all share something in common. We all want Gaara and Neji together. Why? Well, because they're destined for each other, of course!" Naruto waved his yard stick and paced like a military leader in front of his troops, his troops being Shino, Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui, Hinata, Choji, and Haku.

Lee and Ten-ten would have been there but Lee had finally mustered up the courage and asked Ten-ten out so they were out watching some horror movie …one with lots of blood, gore, and fighting if Ten-ten had any say in it, and she did.

Sasuke hadn't wanted Hinata to come because he had thought that it might be risky to tell her considering she _lived _with Neji, but Naruto convinced him that she could be a great spy because of just that. I mean she _lived _with him!

And Sai didn't come because…Naruto didn't really want to know why so he didn't ask.

"Today we will unveil to you our master plan that we have worked so hard on." Naruto gestured to his boyfriend who nodded solemnly. "You are to follow this plan and carry out your mission. It is to be called the…"GAANEJI PLAN"!!"

Almost everyone in the room did a face palm at the name. That or just stared.

"What? You don't get it? Like SasuNaru? Sasuke and Naruto? No?" Naruto was baffled as everyone shook their heads. "HAVE NONE OF YOU LOSERS EVER BEEN ON FANFICTION!? God, I'm surrounded by freaks."

Itachi blinked. "Wait…like the internet thingy site with all the buttonz and wordz and stuff?"

Naruto nodded. "See! At least _someone's_ sane here!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Itachi? Sane? I think not."

"Did you say something?!" Shisui glared at his boyfriend's brother.

"N-no…never mind."

"That's what I thought."

Naruto blinked. "Anyway-"

"Wait Naru-chan! 'Tachi has a question." Itachi waved an arm in the air like a grade schooler. He was in a…special mood that day.

"Yes Itachi?" Naruto pointed his yard stick at Itachi, he didn't like being interrupted but Itachi's boyfriend was scary so…

"Um how do you know that Neji is the uke? I mean I thought he was a little more dominant then Gaara. I'd say he's more like Sasuke and Gaara's more like you. Therefore I believe the plan should be called, the "NejiGaa Plan"." Itachi nodded his head and crossed his arms. "Yes, I think that's right."

"Ooookay. So the plan will be called the "NEJIGAA PLAN!!" Naruto continued his pacing. "I shall now unveil this plan to you, in which you all will take par-"

"Ooo oo." Itachi waved an arm in the air. Naruto ignored him.

"Which you all will take part i-"

"Pick me! Oooo OOOOOOO!!" Itachi was practically falling off from his seat on the couch. They were all in the Uchiha brothers' basement and, for some reason, they had a lot of couches.

"Yes Itachi?" Naruto sighed.

"If Neji is the seme and Gaara is the uke, then Gaara needs a cute nickname like…" Itachi seemed to ponder for a moment. "Gaa-chan! So can the plan be called the "NejiGaa-chan Plan"? It even rhymes."

"No. It's the "NEJIGAA PLAN" and that's final."

"But-"

"No, Itachi."

"Fine then." Itachi pouted and gave Shisui a pathetic look, earning some sympathy from the older man. And lets just say that sympathy can come in very…interesting forms with Shisui and Itachi.

"Oh for the love of-GET A ROOM YOU TWO!" Sasuke shouted.

"WOULD YOU ALL STOP YELLING AND BEING INSANE!? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SERIOUS FIC!" Haku finally had had enough. Everyone froze. He could be quite scary, despite his looks. "Back to business!"

"O-ok. Um…so I am going to reveal my "NEJIGAA-"

"NO YELLING!"

"My "NejiGaa Plan." Naruto whispered.

"Much better."

"The plan is written under this blackboard here." Naruto pointed with his yard stick at a blackboard behind him that Sasuke and Itachi randomly owned. It was covered by a white cloth, concealing what was written beneath. "Sasuke-teme, would you please come and help me unveil it?"

"Of course, dobe."

"Alright. Drum roll please!" Itachi enthusiastically complied.

"Tada!"

Everyone stared.

"Wow. Just wow." Haku said.

"Yeah, I'd expect this of you Naruto, but not of Sasuke." Shisui agreed.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

"NO YELLING!"

"Sorry."

"I-I have to agree with Haku. Wow." Hinata shook her head.

Shino and Choji just nodded.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Naruto, the board just says "GAANEJI 4EVA" with a heart around it. How is that a plan?" Haku asked.

At Haku's words Itachi promptly got up and erased the contents of the heart, replacing "GAANEJI 4EVA" with "NejiGaa-chan 4eva". Naruto just sighed and answered Haku's question.

"You see it's simple," Naruto said with a glint in his eyes. "We just have to push them together. They'll do the rest of the work for us."

Sasuke nodded. "All we need to do is make sure they're always in the right place at the right time. Like wherever Neji is Gaara must be. In essence, this is the plan."

"So…LET"S GET TO WORK PEOPLE!"

"NO-"

"No yelling. I get it, I get it."

* * *

"And if I ever hear that you've snuck out with this Kevin kid again I swear that I will tell Santa to put coal in your stocking for years to come. And don't even think about calling him. And don't think I didn't notice the makeup you've been wearing lately. There will be no more of that young lady."

Neji could hear his uncle's rant and his cousin's protests even from his room. He was still sick of course, being as Hiashi had come home from work a few hours early to berate Hanabi. He could do that. He owned the company.

Neji sighed and tried to fall asleep. He wanted to be well by tomorrow. Only one day out of school and he already missed it, well he missed one person in particular.

"Gaara." Neji whispered to himself, liking how the name rolled off his tongue.

'If only Gaara could see me now,' Neji thought. 'He would think I was pathetic, lying here, gazing up at the ceiling dreamily, thinking of the same boy whose name I so love.'

Neji's pale eyes traced patterns in the ceiling, finding familiar shapes and patterns is the uneven paint above him.

'It's strange,' he reasoned. 'I have always thought of myself as straight. At least I hadn't thought of it before Sasuke and Naruto were forced to come out to the school. I had simply gone on with my life, unknowingly blind to myself.'

But now he knew, and it was all Gaara's fault.

Neji closed his eyes, hoping against hope that thoughts of the red-head wouldn't be able to follow him into the darkness behind his heavy lids. Unfortunately, his mind deemed this to be impossible.

"Why do you just have to be so damn irresistible?" Neji said as he let sleep take him away. "Gaara…"

* * *

Gaara woke with a start. He had slept in. For the first time in his life he was going to be late because he had _slept in_! Gaara had never in his life thought to buy an alarm clock, he was always naturally up about four hours before he had to leave anyway, and this was if he had gotten a good headway on sleep the night before.

But that night, he had been up until three stewing over his hatred of Shikamaru and his annoyance at his sister. And then when he was finally asleep he had dreamed. Not _dreamed_ dreamed you perverts! But he had dreamed…

_Gaara sat in that same stool in that same Claire's in that same mall. He felt that same feeling of warmth around his hand as the same person reassured him. That same person with the same pale eyes stood beside him. It was what he did and what he said that was different. _

_He leaned down until his lips were barely touching the metal of Gaara's new stud and whispered into his ear. _

"_Gaara, I love you." _

Gaara shivered.

'What a weird dream,' he thought as he reached up and touched the metal of his earring.

He didn't have time to think much about it, though, because he needed to be dressed and ready in the next five minutes. Not to mention that he had to steal and apply Temari's eyeliner because he had run out of his own kohl.

He was _sooo_ going to be late.

* * *

­­­­  
"You're late." Naruto whispered as Gaara slid into the seat next to him. He had been worried that the red-head wouldn't make it at all. Neji was back that day so it would be a tragedy if Gaara had not been there.

"I know." Gaara growled.

"Hey, hey just saying!" Naruto held his hands up in defense.

"Quiet back there you two!"

Naruto scowled and sat back in his seat as Gaara settled down into his and got his books out.

Sasuke was in his next class as well as both Gaara and Neji. Naruto was really looking forward to that.

Class passed like a snail as the teacher went on and on about history that Naruto didn't even particularly care about. Naruto glanced over at Gaara and was startled to see that he had fallen asleep.

'Wow, he must be _really_ tired." Naruto thought.

Finally, though, class ended and Naruto waited impatiently for Gaara to gather his books and follow him to their next class.

"Oi Naruto!" Naruto's dark haired lover ran up to him and wrapped a pale arm around his waist, giving him a quick peck on the lips. Naruto giggled and pulled his boyfriend back for a longer, more intimate kiss. He wanted to continue but Neji's voice interrupted them.

"Hey, quit it you two."

"Neji!" Naruto hadn't seen Sasuke's best friend since he was last at school. It was Sasuke who had told him of Neji's return.

"Hey Naruto," the dark haired boy nodded in Naruto's direction before diverting his attention elsewhere. "Hey Gaara." The pale eyed boy smirked.

Naruto suppressed a knowing smile at Gaara's blush and mumbled greeting. As Gaara turned away from Neji's stare Naruto was pleased to notice that he could see a little hint of…something in Neji eyes. Was that…longing?

Sasuke leaned down to whisper into Naruto's ear. "_Someone's_ got a little crush." Naruto giggled.

"What was that?" Neji inquired.

"Don't be nosey Hyuuga boy. Come on, let's get to class." Sasuke said to his best friend.

Together the four of them bantered their way to their next class, which happened to be chemistry. And, as fate would have it, groups of two were paired off by the teacher, leaving Sasuke and Naruto as one group and Gaara and Neji as another.

"We could not have planned this any better ourselves," Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear. "ne, Naru-chan?"

"Yeah. I told you it was destiny." Naruto whispered back. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

"You're starting to sound like Neji used to with this whole "fate" crap."

"Yeah, well in this case, it's true!"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say dobe."

"Teme."

* * *

'Why must I be paired up with Neji, Neji of all people?' Gaara thought as he slowly made his way over to where the smirking Hyuuga was sitting. 'I mean dreaming of him is one thing, but now I have to have _actual _contact with the _actual_ person? Now that's just ridiculous.'

Gaara was especially pissed because in his last class he had actually _fallen asleep_. To most people, falling asleep in a class like history is not such a hard task, but to Gaara it was something he never did. Ever. Even if he wanted to he couldn't. He was an insomniac, and even in his least captivating of subjects he was always wide awake.

He could only blame it on the dream. That _stupid_ dream.

"Why must you torment me so?"

"What? Torment? Who?" Neji asked curiously.

Gaara felt himself blush at the realization that he had spoken out loud.

"I thought Sasuke told you not to be nosey."

"So he _does _speak. I thought my ears were deceiving me before." Neji said in a mock-incredulous tone.

"Don't get prissy. We have a pact, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just fun to tease you." Neji smirked again.

"Fun?" Gaara raised a non existent eyebrow.

"Yeah, fun." Neji gave Gaara a knowing smirk and turned his attention towards the teacher who had begun to explain their group project.

"Ok. Now that you all have been paired off I want one of you to get out a Bunsen burner while the other partner gets each of the various chemicals I've put out. You are going to test each one and determine which chemical it is by the color of the flame. The options of chemicals are written on the board. This should be a one class project but the analysis will be tonight's homework. You may work on it if you're finished with your chemicals. Otherwise, if you want to study group it together or just do it separately is not my concern. Now get to work."

Gaara moved to get the Bunsen burner while Neji took his precious time getting out the chemicals. He seemed to be moving deliberately slowly.

Gaara placed his Bunsen burner on the table and waited impatiently for Neji to meander over.

"Hurry up!" Gaara growled through clenched teeth. Finally Neji arrived with the chemicals and started to test the chemicals with the flames. Gaara and Neji took turns testing.

Neji's turn took a lot longer then Gaara's and each time he went down to record what they had done he seemed to take forever.

By the time class was over they had barely finished testing the chemicals and hadn't even started their homework.

"So do you want to come over tonight to do our analysis?" Neji said casually, as if he hadn't been planning that the entire time.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "If you wanted me to come over so badly why didn't you just ask instead of making me have more homework tonight?"

"Would you come over if I didn't have an excuse?"

"…No."

"I didn't think so. Now are you coming over or not?" Neji crossed his arms and waited for his reply.

"Fine. But you're making me dinner."

Neji looked pleased but, of course, had to push Gaara's buttons further. "So your sister can't cook?"

"Nah. She burned the pasta again last night. Kankuro threw a hissy fit."

"Sounds…fun."

"Oh, yeah, it's always a fuckin field day at my house."

"Hey did you just attempt at humor?" Neji looked earnestly surprised.

"I know. You know how many people I've shocked by doing that? They're usually so surprised that they don't even laugh. It's damn depressing."

Neji's face split up into a grin, starting to chuckle and then starting to laugh. Gaara found himself smiling with him; it was all he could do to suppress his own laugher. Neji was contagious.

"So meet me after school?" Neji finally said after his laugher had died down. He was still smiling and his eyes still had a hint of laughter in them.

"Yeah. I'll see you then." Gaara hid his blush by escaping the classroom, still thinking of tonight.

This probably wasn't a great idea but, what the heck, he was going for it.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Any ideas for next chapter would be great…any comments about this chapter would maybe be even better. XD

Until next time!


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